Hightower was born in
Atlanta, Georgia, and moved with his family to
New York City, New York, when he was one year old. He attended the
Northfield Mount Hermon School, a private boarding school in
Massachusetts. He graduated
Yale University in 1955. He served two years in the Marines after graduation. From 1957 to 1961, he was in an executive training program at
First National City Bank. In 1961, he became an assistant to the president and publisher of
American Heritage Publishing Company. From 1964 to 1970, he was executive director of the
New York State Council on the Arts, where his budget went from $500,000 in his first year to $22 million in his last year. On May 1, 1970, he assumed the position of director of the Museum of Modern Art. He resigned from his position on January 5, 1972. From 1977 to 1993, he was president of the
South Street Seaport Museum From 1993 to 2006, he was president and Director of the
Mariners' Museum, a period which included establishing the
USS Monitor Center and Conservation Laboratory. ==References==